PROJECT 10
Eye movement-based evaluation of visual function in advanced glaucoma
Why?
Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease of the optic nerve and the most common cause of irreversible blindness. During examination of the visual field (perimetry), changes in sensitivity and reaction time can be quantified well in early, but not advanced, disease stages. Yet, assessment of advanced disease stages is pivotal for, for example, making treatment decisions and for evaluating treatment effects of new restorative approaches. Thus, there is a need for novel, simple and effective ways to screen for visual field defects in advanced disease stages. This is the objective of this project.
How?
For patients at an advanced stage, and thus with large amounts of visual field loss, current perimetric procedures are unsuitable as patients will see only few stimuli making it both frustrating (due to large number of misses) and highly inefficient. We will design and evaluate new efficient eye-movement based perimetric paradigms to assess glaucomatous loss of retinal function (e.g. approaches that assess reaction time, retinal light adaptation speeds, stimulating multiple sites at once, continuous registration). Moreover, we have plans to combine eye-tracking based assessments with other approaches such as high-resolution retinal imaging or electroretinography.
What can you expect?
You will gain extensive experience and expert insight into, among others, development of new experimental perimetric and ophthalmic assessments, basic and complex data analysis as well as general glaucoma care. You will be part of a vibrant, interdisciplinary research team and you will have the opportunity to learn skills from other members and benefit from multidisciplinary interactions, including with our collaborators locally and internationally.
Where?
You will be located at (1) BulbiTech, a company based in Trondheim, Norway, that specializes in eye-tracking-based ophthalmic assessments (PI: Opasic) and (2) the Laboratory of Experimental Ophthalmology of the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands (PI: Cornelissen). Both sites have a strong interest in perimetry and eye-tracking.
Who are we looking for?
You have a deep interest in translational and basic vision science. Experience with quantitative approaches and well-developed programming skills (e.g. Python, R, MatLab, or a similar language) are requirements, as is fluency in English. Experience in systematic data-acquisition and analysis are all desirable skills. Candidates with a background in medicine (MD), ophthalmology, or a master’s degree in vision science, neuroscience, computer science, experimental psychology, physics, mathematics or a related natural science or engineering field will be considered.
References
- Mazumdar, D., Meethal, N.S.K., George, R. et al. (2021). Saccadic reaction time in mirror image sectors across horizontal meridian in eye movement perimetry. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81762-y
- Birte Gestefeld; Alessandro Grillini; Jan-Bernard C. Marsman; Frans W. Cornelissen. Using natural viewing behavior to screen for and reconstruct visual field defects. Journal of Vision: https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.20.9.1
- Rijul Saurabh Soans; Alessandro Grillini; Rohit Saxena; Remco J. Renken; Tapan Kumar Gandhi; Frans W. Cornelissen. Eye-Movement–Based Assessment of the Perceptual Consequences of Glaucomatous and Neuro-Ophthalmological Visual Field Defects. Translational Vision Science & Technology: https://doi.org/10.1167/tvst.10.2.1